Adams-Ezaro v. Hosp. San Gerardo — Oct. 2014 (Summary)

EMTALA

Adams-Ezaro v. Hosp. San Gerardo
No. 13-1918 (FAB) (D. P.R. Oct. 30, 2014)

The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico denied a hospital’s motion to dismiss an Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (“EMTALA”) claim which alleged that the hospital violated EMTALA’s screening provision. Plaintiff is the estate of a patient who died in the emergency room of the defendant hospital after sustaining several gunshot wounds. The patient died while waiting for an ambulance to transfer him to another hospital. The estate alleged that the hospital violated EMTALA’s screening provision because it did not provide the patient with surgical and radiological consultations, perform a thoracotomy, or try to identify the source of his bleeding and hypotension. Additionally, the plaintiff alleged that the hospital did not follow its protocols for patients with gunshot wounds or its Advance Trauma Life Support program. The court held that the allegations that the hospital violated EMTALA’s screening provision were plausible and that discovery in the case was warranted.